John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.” Here we see that Christ has the attribute of peace. Christ’s peace is not only an attribute of Christ; it is also Christ Himself. Ephesians 2:14 says, “He Himself is our peace.” This peace is for our relationship with God and with men. This peace is also concerning our condition and situation. Christ has given us this peace that we may enjoy tranquillity in our relationship with God and with men and in our daily life, regardless of what our condition and situation may be.
In John 15:11 the Lord Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full.” This verse indicates that another of Christ’s attributes is joy. Joy comes out of peace and goes along with peace. Since Christ has the attribute of peace, He simultaneously also has the attribute of joy. It is in His joy that we can rejoice. We should rejoice in Him always (Phil. 3:1; 4:4). This is to enjoy Him as our joy.
In Ephesians 3:19 Paul speaks of the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ. The love of Christ surpasses knowledge; yet we can know it by experiencing it. According to our mentality, the love of Christ is knowledge-surpassing. Our mind is not able to know it. But in our spirit we can know the love of Christ through our experience.
Just as Christ is immeasurable (Eph. 3:18), so His love is also immeasurable. Actually, the love of Christ is not merely something belonging to Christ; this love is Christ Himself. Because Christ is immeasurable, His love is knowledge-surpassing. If we compare what we have so far experienced of the immeasurable love of Christ to all there is to experience, it is like comparing a raindrop to the ocean. Christ in His universal dimensions and in His immeasurable, knowledge-surpassing love is like a vast, limitless ocean for us to experience and know in our spirit.
Regarding the thorn in the flesh, Paul entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from him (2 Cor. 12:7-8). But the Lord Jesus said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you” (v. 9). Instead of removing the thorn, the Lord supplied Paul with the sufficient grace to enable him to bear the suffering. Then in Paul’s experience this grace became the power that is made perfect in weakness.
According to the New Testament, grace is what Christ is to us for our enjoyment (John 1:16-17). Grace is actually Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment in our experience. Thus, grace is mainly not the work the Lord Jesus does for us; grace is the Triune God in Christ dispensed into us and experienced as our enjoyment. In brief, grace is Christ as the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9) experienced and enjoyed by us through the divine dispensing.
John 1:17 says that grace came through Jesus Christ. In his experience Paul realized that this grace is Christ Himself. When Christ is enjoyed by us as our portion, that is grace. Grace is Christ not in doctrine but in experience, for grace is Christ with all He is for our enjoyment. This includes life, power, and His other divine attributes.
Second Corinthians 13:14 also speaks of the grace of Christ: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This blessing is composed of grace, love, and fellowship. The love of God the Father is the source, the fount; and the grace of Christ is the flow, the expression, of love. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is a matter of communication, transportation, transmission. Therefore, love is the source, grace is the flow, and fellowship is the transmission of the flow with the source. Second Corinthians 13:14 clearly says that grace is of Christ, love is of God, and fellowship is of the Holy Spirit. Grace is actually the Triune God embodied in Christ and transmitted into our being through the Spirit for our enjoyment. Hence, the grace of Christ is the Triune God as our life, life supply, and enjoyment. This grace issues out from the Father’s love and is transmitted into us by the Spirit. Therefore, we have the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as the full enjoyment of the Triune God.
Hebrews 4:15 indicates that Christ, our High Priest, has the virtue of sympathy: “We do not have a high priest who is not able to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tried in all respects like us, yet without sin.” Christ has been tried in all respects like us. Because He has been tried, He is qualified and able to help us who are being tried. He is equipped to help us pass through trials and to keep us from any entanglement of sin. As the One who has been tried in all respects like us, Christ is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He is easily touched with the feeling of our weaknesses and quickly enters into a fellow suffering with us in our weaknesses. Whatever happens to us and whatever suffering we may have, He feels it with us and sympathizes with us.
(Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 050-062), Chapter 12, by Witness Lee)